I was just starting my sophomore year in high school when the single, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” started getting airplay and it blew up. The song was everywhere that fall, and I was lucky enough to get the recommendation from a football teammate on just how solid the whole album was. From the opening distorted chords of, “Black Schuck” I was hooked and after a few listens to Permission to Land I started to believe in a band called The Darkness.

The sound was a throwback, a mixture of hard rock and glam with lead singer Justin Hawkins looking like he was straight out of an eighties hair metal video. It topped the charts in the United Kingdom and has sold just shy of two million copies worldwide to date, the debut brought back some of the antics and debauchery that made rock and roll fun. It could reasonably be thought, this is the kind of band that gets banned from hotels and smashes things.

A great guitar riff can be great in era, and it is inexplicable that they were allowed two guitar solos on a radio song in 2003. “I believe in a thing called love, just listen to the rhythm of your heart, there’s a chance we can make it now, we’ll be rocking ‘til the sun goes down” is simply so infectious that every time I hear it I have to pretend I can still do the falsetto part like I’m a teenager, something that should only be attempted in the shower.

Joyful is always the word that comes to mind when I think about Justin Hawkins running into an old crush at a dance club while rattling off all the extra-curricular activities they used to do together. “Friday Night” is easily the most innocent sounding song, and does a lot to balance the darker parts of the album. Whether it be needlework, badminton, cycling or rowing on the weeknights, we’re always dancing on a Friday night with you, mystery girl. That girl who, “God, the way she moves me to write bad poetry” and whom we all know so well.

“Growing On Me” and “Love is Only a Feeling” were singles that didn’t reach the same popularity their biggest hit, but add to the depth of the album nicely. After all, how could this over the top flashback of an album not have a ballad? It’s a record that was different from anything else at the time, the fervent energy the band had back then really shines through. It’s still worth a spin today, just listen to the rhythm of your heart.